


Your Starry Eyes

by spyder_m



Series: Cloti Fall Festival 2020 [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Late Night Conversations, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27590180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spyder_m/pseuds/spyder_m
Summary: On the night the party first escape Midgar, they camp underneath the stars. Unable to sleep, Cloud and Tifa become lost in bittersweet memories. Written for Day 3 of the 2020 Cloti Fall Festival, "Stargazing/Tanabata".
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Series: Cloti Fall Festival 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2015497
Kudos: 22
Collections: CloTi Fall Festival 2020 (ClotiWeek)





	Your Starry Eyes

Though they had all been resolute in their decision, stepping out beyond Midgar's walls, into a vast, unknown world, was still a terrifying prospect. 

It was funny. Tifa could still recall her first arrival in the unfamiliar city, young and scared and how little it had taken for her adjust. Over time, it had become the closest she'd felt to home in a long while. 

Now, they would be leaving it all behind. 

No longer being obstructed by steel plates or towering buildings, her eyes traced the land as far as they could reach, a prospect as alien as it was liberating. She could make out the stretches of grass and trees lingering on the horizon, beyond the arid earth that surrounded the city limits; signs of the planet being drained of its life and vitality. 

Tifa, it seemed, had become so acclimated to the city; the crowded conditions; that much of the outside world she had once known so well had become lost to the recesses of her mind. 

The traces that still lingered, memories awoken by the vibrant bursts of natural stimuli. The cool splash of rain that descended from the sky, the droplets of salty water catching on her skin. The caress of open air, sifting through her hair. The pad of grass underneath her boots. Slowly, it all returned to her, waking a rush of bittersweet feelings. 

Glancing toward her companions as they traversed wordlessly, Tifa wondered if Cloud, Red and Barret; who had all once lived outside the city's walls; felt the same. Were they reminded of their homes? Perhaps Cloud, who had worked for Shinra, had taken missions outside before? 

And Aerith? Tifa looked to woman, who they'd recently learnt was an Ancient, thinking if perhaps being closer and more attuned to the natural elements would strength her connection to the Planet? 

Eventually, the daylight they enjoyed would fade, the clouds parting to give way to glimmering flecks of silver, dotted across the night's dark expanse. Tifa eyes widened as she glanced up, a gasp breaking unconsciously from her. 

The stars were liked guiding lights, drowned out by the noise and pollution of Midgar. Even in the rare instances she had been topside, Tifa had never been able to make out the sky as clearly as she could now. 

They pitched tents underneath the sky, having walked as far as they could and unsure of what dangers may linger in the dark. Their journey would continue first thing tomorrow, as they made their way toward the nearest town, Kalm. 

Cloud had offered to take watch while the others rested. Tifa worried about him, remembering his earlier collapse, suspecting that facing Sephiroth would have taken a heavy toll on him. 

Yet, he was stubborn, insistent. 

Keeping her eyes drawn to the entrance of their tent, Tifa hoped the nostalgic sight of the night's sky would calm her, lull her body into a peaceful sleep, knowing it was needed after how much they had expended fighting. Yet, no matter how comfortable Tifa got, she was still plagued by restless energy. 

Tifa struggled still, with processing all they had endured and faced that night. Breaking into Shinra HQ, rescuing Aerith, clashing against the Whispers, the battle with Sephiroth. 

Sephiroth. 

Just seeing him again in Hojo's lab had been enough to turn her blood cold; hatred, anger surging through her veins.  
It had been five years since that day. The memories she carried still so haunting and vivid. The heat from the flames scorching her skin Nibelheim. The sticky, matted blood clinging to the blade that killed her father as she took it in her shaking hands, turning furiously toward the stairs of the Reactor. 

Before, she had been able to take solace and quell her deepest fears with the knowledge that these were memories, dreams. That, by all reports, Sephiroth had perished after falling into the Lifestream and could never bring harm to her, or anyone she loved, ever again. 

That hope faded once they found him alive, her thoughts descending into turmoil as she was caught between running away and charging toward him with her fists raised. 

The moment he returned to her life, he seemed determined once again, to inflict pain as he had raised his sword against Barret, cutting him through the chest. The man who had helped her, giving her a home and purpose when she first arrived in Midgar as a scared, lost young woman. Much like her father, Sephiroth was trying to take someone dear from her again, and Tifa felt helpless to stop him. Even with as strong as he had become, Sephiroth appeared otherworldly appearing behind them in an instant. 

Exasperated, Tifa kicked back the cover of her sleeping bag, sitting with a huff. The restless shift of her body did not go undetected, Cloud's voice carrying softly from outside the tent. 

"Tifa?"

Tifa flinched, startled, his presence having briefly slipped her mind. Pushing her head through the tent flaps, she found him still perched before the fire.

“Ah, Cloud. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

"No, it’s fine. Having trouble sleeping?"

"Y- yeah. With everything that's happened..."

Gesturing with a flick of his head, Cloud patted the empty space beside him, encouraging her to take it. Still carrying a great deal of unease, Tifa felt herself shuffle unconsciously closer to him, sensing that his company might be help in easing her thoughts. 

As Cloud silently followed her approach, the Mako glowing in his eyes cut through the darkness like a soft, calming light. Tifa eased down beside him, hands settilng in her lap. 

The fire they had set earlier had almost burnt out, small embers flickering among the charred logs. Tifa grimaced, eyes lifting from the rising plumes of smoke and ash. 

She still wasn't overly fond of fire. 

"It's funny, you know." She mused, the hint of a smile forming. "I never would have guessed that, after all this time, we'd be back here again, like this."

Cloud's brow furrowed, not catching Tifa's meaning, initially. Though, as he followed her gaze, lifting his head towards the constellations dotted above them, realisation set in.  
The last time they had been alone together, like this, had been before he left. Before they had known the loss of their home and family. 

The sight helped remind him and hold on to those memories. Giving him a sense that he could always remain connected to that simpler time and place. 

Even with the fog that overwhelmed his senses; the strange visions and voices he would often succumb to; this view remained clear in his memory, a part of himself that he could hold onto with certainty. 

That familiar skyline draped before them, Tifa was conscious of Cloud lingering in her periphery, caught in the wonder of his expression. It gave her hope, a sense that those memories of Nibelheim still lived on his memory too. 

"Do you miss it?" Tifa's voice called, barely a whisper. A wish, despite her vague words, that the meaning wouldn't be lost. 

"Yeah," Cloud answered, contemplative. "Almost every day. I think about what I could have done differently. If maybe I'd been quicker, I would have been able to stop him. I think about how, when I was younger, I was so eager to leave. To go to Midgar and join Soldier. But now, I can never go back.”

Tifa bit her lip, taken, momentarily, by a pang of regret. Perhaps Nibleheim hadn't been the best topic to bring up. 

She had been curious, worried even. Cloud always held himself in such a cool, unflappable manner, yet seemed to carry a greater burden than he let on. Tifa worried about how that night might have affected him. How he endured through the years between that he had spent alone and how much of that loss still stayed with him. That he felt comfortable enough to speak with her about it, touched her. It was unlike him, usually. 

Though she could understand his guilt, Tifa felt saddened and shocked that Cloud would blame himself. There wasn't really anything he could have done. He would have been in Midgar at the time and likely wouldn't have learnt the news until well after. 

Still, she sympathised with how difficult it must have been for him to process. Having to find out about the loss of both mother and his hometown when he was miles away, never having the chance to say goodbye. That it had been at the hands of his idol, the reason he had left to join Soldier in the first place, likely only exacerbated the pain. 

It compelled her to comfort him, just as he had to her the night that the plate fell. Her hand stretched out to close the space between them. 

At the shuffle of her body, Cloud's eyes widened, flickering toward her. Tifa was caught with a sharp exhale, awestruck, taken by the shimmer of distant starlight still reflected in the depths of his irises. 

The last vestige of that place. 

The home that lived on in the memories they shared. 


End file.
